This entry was posted on 8/14/2007 7:43 PM and is filed under Mexico.
Today we're lucky to have Mercedes Arteaga Tovar, owner and executive chef from
"El Restaurante Bugambilia" as our cooking teacher. She encourages us to jump
in and help chop, assemble, fry and taste as we learn all about the
different chilies in Mexico and how to use them.
Many of the recipes we learned today were handed down from Mercedes'
family, generation through generation. Here is what we feasted on
today...
Chile Polano Cream Soup
Rajas Con Crema (Strips of roasted poblano chilies with onions, corn and cream) Chiles en Nogada (An old family recipe where poblanos were stuffed with ground beef, onions, pecans, raisins, almonds, citron,
cinnamon & spices)
Chile Rellenos (Yes, the authentic ones that are egg battered and fried)
Chiles Anchos Secos Rellenos (Rehydrated and marinated ancho chilies
stuffed with refried beans and cheese, covered with sauce, then
baked)
An interesting fact she shared with us is that Mexico exports almost all of its poblano chilies to the U.S. and therefore has to rely on poblanos
imported from China! These chilies are much tougher than the local
ones and often times require additional boiling in order to get soft.
Another fascinating piece of information is hearing and seeing how all
of the vegetables and fruits that we use in class and at our house here
in San Miguel are always soaked for at least 20 minutes in water that
has a special disinfectant added. However, much of the produce that is
exported from Mexico to the U.S. finds its way into our kitchens and
yet we are never warned to soak it in any kind of disinfectant before
using. Does some cleaning process happen to it before it comes to the
U.S. markets? We aren't so sure. It does make us want to take more
care in washing produce that originates in Mexico. Since they do it
here, we should certainly be doing it in our own kitchens.
The ingredients for Chiles en Nogada...
The chilies getting stuffed...
Topped with creme fraiche and pomegranate seeds...
These are the marinated rehydrated ancho chilies we used for making
Chiles Anchos Secos Rellenos...
We stuffed them with refried beans and cheese, covered them with extra Chile Relleno sauce, then baked them...
Here's how we made real authentic Chiles Rellenos. The roasted, peeled and seeded poblano chilies were stuffed with cheese, then dredged in flour...
Mercedes makes the chile relleno batter from beaten egg whites, whole egg yolks and flour...
The stuffed poblanos are then coated with batter, fried, covered with special tomato sauce and heated. Muy authentico!
Here's a sample plate of what we made...
So good and so many leftovers for us to enjoy for days...
